Originations

Shore Financial Services Inc., Birmingham, Mich., has hired David Hall as president of its retail mortgage division, replacing Robert Rahal, who was promoted to vice chairman of the company.

Freddie Mac is coming to market with a $538 million commercial MBS deal backed by 19 multifamily properties owned by Apartment Investment & Management Co.

Web giant Google has built off its early results providing mortgage rate searches by launching a one-stop shopping tool for consumers, allowing them to compare residential loans, and other consumer banking products.

Less than two years after it acquired Federal Trust Bank in Sanford, Fla., so it could qualify for a federal bailout, insurance giant Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. is selling the thrift to another Florida banking company.

Distressed home sales in California accounted for 48% of all purchase transactions in April, a three-point decline from the prior month, according to new figures compiled by the California Association of Realtors.

Republican lawmakers have drafted a proposal that would raise the minimum downpayment on Federal Housing Administration loans to 5% and drastically scale back the size of the federal mortgage insurance program, according to trade group officials familiar with the effort.

WASHINGTON—If the audience’s response during a special session on mortgage credit at the National Association of Realtors’ Midyear Legislative Meetings is any indication, appraisals are still a big issue for frontline realty agents.

Not only do mortgage originators have to worry about the federal do-not-call laws, they need to be mindful that there are state laws that cover consumer marketing and contacts as well. And if convicted of violating those laws on either the state or federal level, the penalties can be very hefty.

DALLAS—Consumers’ sense of obligation to the mortgage contract remains strong, according to the results of a market research survey conducted last summer on behalf of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

The National Association of Home Builders for the first time has added race and ethnicity data to the quarterly housing affordability survey it has produced for the past 20 years. That’s all to the good. The story the new data tells, however, is an old one.

Senate Banking Committee chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., late this week rebuffed Republican demands to take up legislation that would restructure the governance of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The U.S. government and a group of private investors plan to spin off the subprime lending and servicing division of American International Group, by selling $500 million worth of stock to the public – through a REIT structure.

A New Mexico mortgage banker is pursuing an aggressive growth strategy, acquiring mortgage banking and mortgage brokerage firms all over the country.

The vast majority of state disciplinary actions against appraisers are not being reported to the federal appraisal subcommittee, which maintains a national registry of state certified and licensed appraisers.

Fannie Mae chief economist Doug Duncan believes cash purchases of homes will continue at "quite high levels" for the rest of this year as investors and even some homebuyers by-pass the traditional mortgage process.

Ocwen Financial is one of at least three investors that were invited in by Goldman Sachs to make a final round of bids on Litton Loan Servicing, the Wall Street firm’s specialty servicing division, according to investment bankers and others close to the situation.

Fannie Mae has approved a second subsidiary of Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corp. as an eligible mortgage insurance writer. Several of the private mortgage insurers have established subsidiaries to keep on writing new business in the event their main operation breaches the 25:1 risk-to-capital ratio or minimum policy position required by 16 states.

It is well documented that the discovery of fraud and abuse is far more frequently found through chance observation than through formal auditing and oversight, no matter how important those functions obviously are. However, our initial awareness that ethical or legal problems are occurring often has less to so with the actual observation of some type of error in judgment or indiscretion and more to do with some indistinct gut sense that things just don't feel right. Always trust that feeling.

Federal bank regulators need to update their commercial real estate guidance to bring standards more in line with how examiners treat loans following the financial crisis, according to a new oversight report.

Banks will face increased costs and reduced revenues as the federal government drafts and implements a new series of regulations affecting mortgage lending and servicing, according to the Comptroller of the Currency.